About Me

I am a teacher and writer. I own Kevin`s English Schools in Kanagawa, Japan. I teach at Tokai University. I have taught at: Keio SFC, St. Mary`s College (Nagoya), ECC, The YMCA, Columbia
College, and Kwantlen Polytechnic University. My Japanese wife is a junior high school
English teacher.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Star Wars LEGO Set 10179, The Lego Millennium Falcon, is part of LEGO's Ultimate Collector Series (UCS) that has wowed fans with large models, attention to detail and high collectability. The Lego Millennium Falcon is not only the largest of these sets ever released it is the largest LEGO set ever, with over 5000 pieces. For Star Wars fans there is the added bonus that this ship is built to minifigure scale. So that means that the minifigures that come with the set are in correct size proportion to the huge ship that transports them across the galaxy.

The minifigures are probably the least interesting part of the set, given the appeal of the ship, but it is nice that LEGO sought to include minifigures with the set as previous UCS releases have not included any figures. There are five figures, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Obi wan Kenobi and Chewbacca all in Episode Four, A New Hope garb. It is a good selection of figures that could have been improved by adding the final two characters that travelled with this crew on their travels, the two droids R2-D2 and C3PO.

The Millennium Falcon ship is a Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300 freighter and was won by the smuggler Han Solo in a game of Sabacc. The person he won the ship off was none other than Lando Calrissian. The LEGO model itself is obviously very big and would warrant a significant display area if it is to be put on show. The ship is over 33" long, 22" wide and 8" tall (84cm long x 56cm wide x 21cm tall). And given the piece count this is not the kind of set that you will be assembling very often, so defiantly decide where it is going to go before you start building!

The detail on the UCS model is beautiful and the attention given to even the smallest surface extends all over the ship. A large variety of small pieces are applied to the top surface to give it the realistic look. Given all the attention paid to the outside it is a shame that there is almost zero playability inside the ship.

Two people can sit side by side with another two people in a row behind them. There is a boarding ramp underneath and a gunner chair at the top. That is about it. Granted, much of the inner space is taken up with construction pieces to keep this large and wide set together but it would have been nice to see a dejarik table or some sleeping quarters etc. But this is a minor quibble.

The set comes with a large spiral bound instruction book and will take some hours to build. It also features a display card with detailed ship specifications of the ship to accentuate the display. Overall it is a highly recommended for those with the money to afford the $499 model and the space to store it.

Inger loves stories and loves to write. As a librarian in a previous life she also has an insatiable thirst for general knowledge. You can visit her latest website which takes a look at the highly popular Calico Critters and Sylvanian Families figures, playsets and accessories including the Calico Critters Townhome.

Lego Star Wars - the Coolest Star Wars Stuff to Collect

LEGO is no longer just for kids! Star Wars fans were delighted when in 1999, the first Star Wars themed LEGO set was released to coincide with The Phantom Menance movie and became one of the coolest things for fans to own.

Very soon after, the LEGO sets for the newer movies (Episodes I to III) started to emerge following each movie. You could build many scenes from each movie or just play with the models of the ships or LEGO men characters.

Not only are the sets themselves popular, but they also spawned a series of video game releases based on the Star Wars LEGO sets.

The Lego Millenium Falcon and X-Wing

The Millennium Falcon and X-Wing spacecraft are still to this day the most popular sets to own. Specific LEGO pieces were created to achieve the accurate look of each spacecraft.

Over time many of the sets, including the Millenium Falcon, have been redesigned to improve the accuracy of each model.

The mini figures have also undergone many transformations over time. Obi-Wan's torso and face have changed color, the Storm Troopers have had three different helmet and head shapes, not to mention many different torso colors to help improve their look.

There is no doubt that the vehicles were the most popular sets, and therefore LEGO went on to create the Ultimate Collector's Series which included more detail and were generally larger in size. They were more expensive that the original LEGO sets (due to more pieces and a higher skill level to build) but still proved popular with fans and collectors alike.

Expanded Universe sets are in plans for the future based on the fictional background of the Star Wars universe.

Most of the Expanded Universe information comes from Star Wars related books, comics, video games and other media which can take place anywhere from 25,000 years before The Phantom Menace to 137 years after Return of the Jedi, so LEGO designers have a lot of background to choose from.

Whether you collect them for fun or as a serious hobby, the LEGO Star Wars sets have become popular with both adults and children and will probably go on to provide lots of enjoyment for many years to come.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

A Day At Legoland California

On a recent trip to San Diego with my five year old daughter, I was in for a pleasant surprise in the form of Legoland California. I've known about the Legoland theme park for a few years and, on a recommendation from a good friend of mine, decided to give the place a try. What a good decision it was because for any family with children under the age of ten, a day at Legoland is something that shouldn't be missed. I took more pictures of my daughter during our visit to Legoland California than I did at Disneyland and The San Diego Wild Animal Park combined.

Legoland is divided into eight different areas, each with their own theme, featuring rides and attractions that are on a Lego scale. And when I say Lego scale, I mean that almost everything in the park is made of those famous toy blocks that so many of us played with growing up. The best way to describe what to expect from a visit to Legoland is to play a game of Lego Star Wars with your child on your favorite video game system. The experience is something that kids will love with just enough fun left over for an adult. One of the main goals of a theme park, which Legoland achieves well, is to create attractions that parents and children can enjoy together.

The main thing separating Legoland from most other theme parks is that most of the attractions offer children a hands-on experience. There were several times throughout our visit that I had to interrupt what my daughter was doing in order to reach our goal of seeing the entire park. Each activity that she participated in could have easily occupied our whole day if allowed to do so. It's not hard to see why when your child can play with thousands of Lego blocks, shoot water cannons at pirate ships, dig for dinosaur fossils, drive Lego cars, and run around in large playground areas. The most unique feature of Legoland, which I found both interesting and clever, were the Lego playing areas that were near many of the rides. It allowed the children to play with Legos while the parents waited in line. Anyone who has ever waited in line with their young child at Disneyland or Six Flags would understand what a great idea this is.

As mentioned before, Legoland offers many great picture taking opportunities because the attractions are, for the most part, interesting and easy to approach up close. One area of the park that is a must-visit is Miniland USA. It features Lego built models of famous structures such as the Washington Monument, the Statue of Liberty, the Golden Gate Bridge, and many others. The model of the White House even included a moving presidential motorcade that drives down a replica of Pennsylvania Avenue. My daughter's favorite parts of Legoland were The Dragon rollercoaster and The Hideaways play area which are both located in the Knight's Kingdom. As for myself, I couldn't resist the temptation to test my aptitude as a fireman at the Fun Town Fire Academy. This attraction reminded me of the physical challenges you see on today's reality shows. Of course, I did let my daughter help me drive the fire truck just a little bit.

Overall, our trip to Legoland California was a fun filled day of family togetherness. The marketing of Legoland, although not far reaching, is excellent because it accurately portrays the excitement to be had at the park. Legoland's employees were both friendly and efficient, and the facilities, especially the bathroom areas, were clean. Bring your wallet because Legoland is a bit pricey, but the wide variety of food is good by theme park standards and there are plenty of gift shops to buy souvenirs and every type of Lego set you can imagine. The next time you and your family visit the San Diego area, don't forget to squeeze a trip to Legoland California into your schedule, you won't be disappointed.

I took the Keikyu line to Shinagawa, transferred to the Yamanote line for Tokyo Station, then boarded a Tohoku line Shinkansen for NasuShiobara, transferred again to the Tohoku JR line one station and changed to a bus for the park. Total transport, round-trip was about $130. Entry and free pass was 4900 yen ($45)

I had many issues this day from lost train tickets, forgotten change, left my CC at home, etc. I missed the bus I wanted, causing me to arrive back home almost two hours later than I had planned. I was pretty stressed and I almost gave up on this trip, but I’m now less than five coasters from hitting #400, so I forged on. Here is my thoughts on the park and coasters, minus my headaches. A huge “domo arigato gozaimasu” goes to the park manager who helped me shortly after I arrived at the park.

I arrived at Nasu Highland about 11:15, and proceeded to the Dragon, a small trailer-mounted powered-coaster, but I don’t think that it is an actual Go Gator, so I took a spin. Two round trips, basic helical course, but surprisingly quick.

Next up, I climbed up to Panic Drive’s elevated station. Neon pink and mint green, with blue and yellow antique car trains, this custom mouse is a Meisho creation. The four passenger cars roll out of the station, dropping slightly and curving around 180 degrees to the left on it’s way to the lift. From the top the train drops through another left turn and rises up into two standard switchbacks before dropping again. The car rises for one switchback, followed by two 225 degree turns. After dropping slightly and rising again, the train hit’s the breaks before a final 180 degree left turn into the station. There was one trim brake that engaged when I rode with two other adults, but allowed an unchecked ride when I rode alone. Not particularly thrilling, and without even the slightest pop of air, the saving grace of this mouse was that it wasn’t a cookie cutter coaster.

After Panic Drive, I checked out the LEGO display nearby. The best part was a showing of the CG animated short; LEGO Star Wars: Revenge of the Brick. This 5 minute, zero dialogue film has appearances by most of the cool characters in ep. III, but no boring bits. It is hysterical at times, and was a highlight of my day. The website shown was treehouseanimation.com, maybe it’s available for viewing online.

Also in this area were a miniature railroad and flying Dumbo-like ride.

It is really easy to see that legos are a toy that will probably never go out of style. This will be a toy that is popular for anyone between the ages of five to fifty five. Even though most fifty year olds do not head out to buy their own sets, they seem to be pretty quick to build something with their grandson or granddaughter. This is simply because this is a toy that involves the mind and creative fun all at the same time. And with so many sets out there, it is easy to see why no one ever seems to loose interest in these toys.
There is a slight problem though as it seems that legos are marketed more for boys then for girls. Even though this is a toy for both genders and for just about any age, a lot of girls are finding that they are left out. Walk down any toy aisle in a major department store or toy store and look for legos. When you find them you will probably notice that there are a lot of sets that are for boys. There are cars, spaceships, cowboys, and aliens. When it comes to entertaining the boys, there are more options then anyone could ever find enough time to build. There are legos for girls but they generally are not found on the shelves in the department stores.
There may be nothing you can do about the girls legos not being sold in your local store, but that does not mean that you are stopped from purchasing some for your daughter. There are many places online that sell sets designed with girls in mind. For a small shipping fee you can finally give your little princess all of the legos she could ever want. But when it comes to lego for girls, what options are there? To start with, the basic set of legos, which is the big box full of various lego pieces for free play, can come in a pink color. This will help your little girl see that there really are sets for her out there.

With so many different girls legos sets out there, it can be hard to list them all but the following will give you a good idea of what is out there. With a little bit of looking around, your little girl could have the following lego for girls:·Hospital
·Playful Puppy
·Horse Stable
·Analog Watch
·Horse Jumping
·House
With so many options out there for girls legos, it is easy to see that you can easily find and purchase your daughter or granddaughter all of the legos for girls that she could ever want. No longer does the little girl have to feel these toys are only for the boys. Now she too can have fun building with these toys and exploring the depths of her imagination.

A video game based on the Star Wars movie was released back in April 2005. It had some few changes when it was rendered into a video game, the most apparent of them being that it was made of the ever-popular building block toy-Lego. The game was made to be child-friendly but is still somehow enjoyable for adults to play.

And now, its developers have come up with the sequel to this game. This is an action/adventure game that is reminiscent of the movie from which it was based on. The action is a full combination of foot levels and opportunities to ride vehicles such as Millenium Falcon, AT-ST walkers, and speederbikes.

There are two main modes of play for this game: Story and Free Play. In the Story mode, one or two players can play through the entire gaming adventure as characters from the movie. Meanwhile, any levels you have competed in can be saved automatically so you can come back to them during Free Play. If you are in the middle of the game, and someone wants to join in, it is possible. All you have to do is plug in a controller and push the start button, and you and your friend can enjoy the game together.

Lego Game - Mos Eisley Cantina

You start the game in Mos Eisley Cantina, which also serves as the central hub for all the levels. There are also three lounges labeled IV, V and VI, where you access the levels. You start off with the first level of episode IV available, and once you have completed that more levels will be opened.

If there is something lacking in this particular title it is that it does not allow online play. It would be interesting to see an online match of Lego-ized characters, but this game promises so much action that this is not really seen as liability. Meanwhile, the shorter loading times for the game is a really good thing as you do not waste so much of your time waiting between levels.

As characters have infinite lives, the difficulty level is pretty much gone in this game. If your character gets killed, it will eventually reappear later on and you would only have earned some penalty in the process.

The controls for this game is simple, requiring only single buttons to make different moves such as attack, to unlock special abilities, switching between characters and jumping. However, other times you need a specific control for your character to do certain things. If you want to switch into a particular character in the middle of a game, simply face that character and press the triangle button.

As for the graphics of this game, there is not much to leave you disappointed as it is so much like in the movie version. Some minor glitches might be too minor for it to affect your overall enjoyment of the game. And with sounds that are so much alike that of the movie, there is some huge reason for you to be nostalgic of the film.

We have heard it before: The average Japanese student is doing as well in mathematics as the best US students. In test after test, the top 5% of US math students are matched by the top 50% of their Japanese counterparts.

Why should that be so? Surely US students compare well with Japanese learners in terms of intelligence, and potential.

Well, we know that schools stay open longer in Japan, an average two hours per day longer, than in the US. It has also been pointed out that in order to promote proper attention to classroom lessons each Japanese classroom period is followed by a recess aimed at allowing excess youthful energy to be discharged. Sadly, this is at a time when many US schools are being forced to abolish recesses altogether because of the threat of violence recesses pose.

Until recently, the one area in which US students continued to outperform their Japanese counterparts was that of creativity. That is, in tests measuring the ability of students to innovate, US learners seemed to be able to consistently rank higher than Japanese learners in their ability to formulate a number of solutions to any given problem.

However, beginning roughly in 2004, Japanese schools introduced a system of creativity training that seems to be opening doors for Japanese students. Today, Japanese students' performance on creativity evaluation instruments is at least as good as that of American students.

Surprisingly, the creativity training system being referred to here was developed by an American University (MIT), and is available to every American school and family. However, the system has not been utilized as in the US as hoped. The name of this magic system is Lego Mindstorms.

Dr. M. Csikszemtmihalyi, in his work entitled Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, emphasized the importance of providing a sense of freedom, a sense of educational flow to students if we wish them to be creative in mind and spirit.

Mindstorms provides unlimited opportunities for all students to practice free flow thinking as they create mechanical systems of various kinds. However, it is only the Japanese who have fully internalized this message.

Creative flow is, unfortunately, the one environmental element that formal accredited US school programs, especially at the middle and high school levels, find difficult to promote. This is no one individual's fault really. It is rather a logical result of an emphasis on strict adherence to administratively approved programs geared to satisfy state mandates, and the effect these programs have on creative flow, especially when accompanied by the bells and buzzers that John Dewey introduced into American education after his exposure to successful Prussian military training camps at the turn of the last century. See: http://www.sntp.net/education/school_state_3.htm

Lego Mindstorms creativity programs have, of course, been attempted in American schools, and occasionally one such program can still be found. Unfortunately though, Lego creativity programs have run into obstacles on American campuses as students, in the competitive atmosphere created by the reigning system, aggressively compete for Lego resources, sometimes resulting in violence. When this occurs, the subsequent threat of litigation posed by parents quickly forces school authorities to retreat from free flow programs toward fully restrictive, "in your seat" offerings. This situation then exacerbates the lack of "flow" necessary for promoting creativity among learners.

However, all is not lost.

Many parent groups are attempting to encourage public school districts throughout the United States to look closely at their delivery systems.

In addition, motivational scholarships are being offered by entities such as ToysPeriod in the form of Mindstorms scholarships to encourage free flow creativity in the schools.

Further, there are school models that continue to serve as models for how free flow can work in the US.

For example, Waldorf Schools present materials to students as they, the learners, are ready for them. The Waldorf system looks to each student and responds to each student's academic and physical need as it occurs. In other words, Waldorf never imposes subject matter on segmented age groups as if students were all the same. Waldorf's student-first philosophy then goes a long way toward motivating a student body to enjoy learning, and therefore to fully benefit from Lego Mindstorms offerings. In the online school community, Linda Christas Academy has promoted a similar philosophy.

A warning blast, however, has shaken California Waldorf Schools recently. As Waldorf begins to accept state money, the State educational bureaucracy is looking with some disfavor on the individualized educational concept for which Waldorf stands. Only time will tell if Waldorf is able to maintain its integrity in the face of such state challenges.

From the Lego Mindstorms perspective, beginning with the individual student and his or her learning needs is not rocket science, although with Mindstorms rockets are a definite option.

Lego Duplo Toy Building Sets - Perfect Toys For Toddlers To Five Year Olds

Lego is a Danish toy company that got its beginnings in the 1930's. Originally, and still, based in Denmark, the brand has been acclaimed worldwide for its line of construction toys. In 1934 the products, as well as the company, officially became known as Lego. The Lego toy building bricks come with various themed and designed series of sets. Most of these sets cater to a particular age group. One of the well known series is the Lego Duplo line.
The Lego Duplo bricks are well built and nontoxic. The larger pieces allow toddlers to use the bricks and blocks with their own little hands. Building instruction manuals come in every box set. If the instructions are lost, any parent or older child can visit Lego online and get guides in helping the children build their three dimensional designs.
The Lego Duplo sets are specially made for toddlers with ages ranging from 18 months to 5 years. The Lego pieces' size is eight times larger in volume than the average Lego brick. The dimension is also twice the height, length and width of the conventional Lego blocks. The concept was first introduced in the year 1969, available in only four basic colors: red, white, blue and yellow. Throughout the years, the collection has evolved to different Lego brick sets including train sets, dinosaur lairs, farm and ranch themes and more. Lego Duplo has also partnered with popular children's program and cartoon franchises such as Bob the Builder from the famous TV series. These four feature Bob, Scoop and all Bob's friends. The Thomas & Friends series of toy sets are very popular as a result of partnering with the famous Thomas the Tank product line.
Lego Duplo is certainly one of the best selling toy collectibles for younger kids of all time. The eleven sets in the Lego Bricks series are often cited as being among the all time best selling toys for children ages 2 to 5 years old! This is where the kids can begin getting their building experience. There are three different sized Brick Box sets and other basics to get the beginning brick inventory as well as city, farm, and zoo settings and buildings.
Other Duplo series of sets include:

Lego Ville is the largest of the Duplo series with 31 sets making up everything a person would expect to find in your average town.

Duplo Castle series consists of only three sets but these include such exciting things as a fire breathing dragon and a knight on a horse.

Duplo Dino also has three sets that come with different dinosaurs and cave men.

Duplo Trains sets are favorites with the youngsters and the eight sets include everything from the Train Starter Set to the Deluxe Train Set and everything in between.

Princess Castle sets are perfect for the family's little princesses with a pink castle, royal stables. A prince and even horses and a princess with real hair to comb.

Once the kids experience Lego Duplo toys they will be eager to move on to more challenging Lego projects. They can have years of fun using these wonderful toy building bricks!

About the Author

Originally from Texas, I now live in the mountains of Arizona. I have 2 online stores the 1st of which is http://bikertshirtsandtanks.com which sells a complete line of Harley Davidson and other biker apparel. The 2nd store is

Sunday, February 20, 2011

How To Buy Lego Cheap and at a Large Discount

by Malcolm SilbermanThere is a huge market for Lego developing, and in large markets there are price variations one can take advantage of. The marketplace for Lego has grown enormously since the introduction of Mindstorm the robotics orientated Lego. Now Lego is not only in the realm of children's toys, but it is of interest to many adult institutions. Engineering schools, executive eduction, hobbyists, and of course hackers, are re-inventing the way Lego is used. For economists the little Lego commodity is the ideal way to study micro-markets.Lego Bulk -- Micro Market Lego
What better micro-market with near fluid efficiencies is there than can be found on eBay? In fact a huge amount of Lego pieces are traded everyday on eBay. Now like every other market, a little inside information can help you identify pricing opportunities. This article focuses on buying Lego on eBay, and specifically how to buy it cheap and at a discount. In short how identify buying opportunities.

Bulk Lego -- Buying Nuggets
This article should be read together with my longer piece and a web site which produces the information required to identify buying nuggets. Find the links and URL's to these two sites below.
Most information on eBay focuses on the selling element, how to sell your stuff. I have tended to specialize on the buying end and trying to identify market opportunities and price in-efficiencies to really capture excellent deals. Let's briefly understand the dynamics of the eBay market place. Like any other market it is supply demand driven, and like a large flea-market if a buyer has knowledge of how many items are for sale at what prices and how many other buyers are in the market, then that buyer can capture the upper hand.
Let`s examine supply. The eBay supply dynamic is a little different in that supply of an item must be seen at a point in time. In other words, because auctions end at different times, one needs to grasp the number of auctions ending in close proximity for the same item. This gives you a feel for the supply of items or in our case Lego. What makes this interesting is that today there could be a large amount of auctions ending for your item, but next week there could be very few. This is one element driving the price. Generally this information is available approximately one week out on the eBay site.
The demand side is slightly more complex and hidden. It is some of this data that the web site I refer to at the bottom helps identify. Demand in eBay terms is measured (by sellers) as a number of factors - how many people view my auction, how many people ask questions, how many people place me on their watch page, and how many people actually bid. Obviously as we progress down this list the data becomes more valid as an indication of demand. Page views are not easy to obtain, although some sellers place a publicly viewable counter on their auction pages. Questions and watchers are available to sellers, and the special web site mentioned below will expose this information. The number of bids is available for all to see.
Now if we happened to produce a graph as one auction progresses of the changes in the number of questions, watchers and bids, once can easily see how the demand is changing as time progresses. Typically if question numbers are high and watchers are high, but bids are low, this may indicate some confusion and a possible buy opportunity. If watchers are very high and climbing, but bids are low, this can point to a last minute bidding war, and a stay out indicator.
Armed with this information and also a quick summary of other similar auctions ending soon, plus a quick feel for the skill set of the seller and the current highest bidder, once can see a picture very different from the average eBay buyer.
Soon the trained eye will see some nice buying opportunities. For the serious collector or Lego enthusiast this will soon bring in parcels of Lego pieces and sets that are quite a bit cheaper than retail. For example it is quite possible to find gems at 50-70% off retail prices. Let`s face it, most Lego pieces don't degrade or damage easy, so the aftermarket such as eBay is the ideal place to buy cheap Lego.Lego Bulk ResourcesFound by Us

Lego Found by UsLego Bulk Author
Article by Malcolm Silberman and Education Specialist trained by eBay, for a more lengthy discussion of this topic visit Foundby Us and to see Lego bulk auctions with this value added data visit http://lego.foundby.us or email him at lego ATmacsilber.com.

Friday, February 18, 2011

HILLSBORO, OREGON (CNN) - In an ongoing effort to push innovation, job creation, and a new relationship with the business community, President Obama toured the Intel facilities in Hillsboro, Oregon, and learned from young math and science students how his boyhood LEGO towers are a far cry from their bio-medical LEGO robots.

“I used to build some pretty mean LEGO towers when I was a kid,” the president told an audience of mostly Intel employees. “I thought I could participate, only these students used their LEGO’s to build models, to build robots that were programmable, to model brains that could repair broken bones.” Read More

Sunday, February 13, 2011

The word Lego is taken from the Dutch for “play well”, which is leg godt. The word is now synonymous the whole world over for a toy which everyone loves to play with be they old, young, boy or girl. We are so used to making things from Lego that rarely do we stop to think about how each individual block of Lego itself is constructed.

Firstly, granules are loaded from large trucks into the granule silos. After this the granules are taken to molding machines. These subject the granules to high temperatures, melting them into a highly viscous substance. This substance is then poured into molds of various sizes to make the bricks that we all know and recognise. Once the molten granules have been poured into the molds they are transported to the decorating and printing stage. Although the color of the brick is determined by the color of the granules in the first stage of the process, the bricks can have patterns printed on to them, or designs. For example, bricks with words on such as taxi or police have them printed on at this stage in the manufacturing process. Once this is complete, the Lego bricks are taken to the packaging area where they are placed into boxes with other Lego pieces ready to be shipped to stores or to wherever they are required.

Lego also have additional branches which are aimed at different users. For example, Duplo is made by Lego but is widely known by the name Duplo and not always associated with Lego. Individual Duplo pieces are much larger than those of a traditional Lego set and they are aimed at a much younger clientele. Children aged 2-6 find Duplo much easier to get hold of because of its increased proportions and so encourage younger children to exercise their creative minds.

Technic Lego is more advanced than standard Lego and so appeals more to the 10-15 year old market. This often incorporates very small pieces as these kits have moving components. For example, you can make such items as a helicopter with propellers which actually move when you turn a handle.

For some time Lego was aimed primarily at boys with kits based on Star Wars or Batman. This balance has now been redressed somewhat and it is now possible to purchase kits to build Disney Princess Castles and such like. Lego is a great toy for children as it helps to improve their hand eye co-ordination as well as their imagination and so children of both sexes should be encouraged to play with it in preference to watching endless hours of TV.

About Lego Author

Susan Green is a regular contributor to SBG Toys where more information about children's toys is freely available.

When most people think of Electric Toy Trains, they think of Hornby, Lionel or some other equally famous model train replicas and with good reason as they are simply fantastic trains. But are you aware that Lego also produce electric toy trains and that they not only have trains, but also locomotives, track, rolling stock, train stations, signal houses and a whole load of other track side buildings and they all have the logo construction theme running through them.

This is a great way to introduce kids into the railroad passion without damaging your very expensive collection and also there is a big adult collectors area who are also passionate about this brand. Lego electric toy trains even have their own scale; known as L-scale. The first Lego trains were sold in 1966 (Lego set number 080) and were push-along trains and had a nice bright blue rail.

It wasn't until 1969 that they released a battery powered set (number 115) and one of the carriages carried the batteries. In late 1969, the first truly Lego electric toy train came out (set number 720).

One of the really cool things about Lego electric toy trains was that they could all be upgrade from one to the other. So if you had bought a push-along train it could be upgraded to battery operated one, which in turn could be upgraded to an electric one.
There were no major changes until 1980. Lego changed the tracks from blue to grey and the transformers now supported points, signals, crossing and other accessories and the trains now looked much more realistic.

1991 saw the introduction of the 9 volt system and metal rails being used. The 9 volt system was compatible with other products of theirs. However by 2007 the 9 volt system was completely discontinued. This was due largely to the introduction of the new line of remote control products they brought out in 2006. All rail was now made from plastic and the trains ran on remote control using battery power.

The major advantage of this was that more than one train could be run at the same time and there were no longer any problems with track layouts, point systems and polarity of rails, although there were now problems with range for the remote and also the batteries had to be changed.

In the summer of 2009, Lego released the new "Emerald Night" (set number 10194) and was part of their Technic Line, which I personally think is ugly, but it was a line that was launched to try and help them get some of their investment money back as they had spent so much developing the trains in the last few years.

Lego electric toy trains were very popular and there is even an international Lego Train Club Organization and they exhibit at such festivals as Brickfest. L gauge trains are becoming increasingly popular among middle-age hobbyists who grew up with the building toy as a child, and are frustrated with traditional model trains such as are found in the HO scale electric toy train.

There is nothing quite like watching the real thing to get excited, but if you do not have access to Lego trains, then watch a couple of videos here about the Electric Toy Train - Lego Land Style.

While you are there also grab the opportunity to find out about some of the model train secrets I have as well as photos, videos and other stimulating and refreshing information at http://www.modeltrainkitsolutions.com

The Halo video game has reaped a lot of support both from the young and not-so-young. It is not a huge wonder why many Halo fans want to experience the fun even with LEGO sets. The good thing is that any Halo fan nowadays can easily build Halo-inspired LEGO creations of practically anything. One can build Halo characters, weapons or settings plus any other structure, vehicle or environment using Halo LEGO toys. This is because of the increase in Halo-inspired toys which are compatible to LEGO sets that are now easy with reach for any fan, child or adult. If you are unsure how you, your kids or the entire family can enjoy these construction toys, then know more below...
The LEGO Group, for the record, does not endorse Halo but this is not enough to stop Halo fans from all over the world from enjoying Halo LEGO sets. Fun-loving LEGO builders are indeed evolving as they accept more Halo-inspired creations. This is because playing with Halo characters and LEGO bricks is now possible. It is easy to purchase Halo minifigs online - you can do so on eBay, on Amazon.com and from many countless online toy retailers. There are even videos on YouTube that shows various Halo-inspired LEGO creations built not just by LEGO or Halo fanatics but also by kids and the young-minded adults. There are also now step-by-step instructions on how to create various structures, characters and environments that bring the Halo world to life.
One of the best inspirations for playing LEGO bricks is the challenge of building Halo-inspired sets. The sky is practically the limit because now, anyone can simply tickle his imagination, create new characters or structures and then even post the project online. Surely, kids, teens, adults and entire families can have fun using Halo LEGO toys, minifigs and sets.
The good news is that it is now easier to purchase these sets online. Buying them online is also one of the best ways to get these cool toys or collections at the cheapest prices. You can search for ready-to-use Halo sets from Amazon, eBay, online toy stores and other sites. Some of the most popular Halo-inspired LEGO sets include Halo Master Chief sets, arms and weapons sets, four Master Chief Lego sets, Ghost Custom sets, Mongoose Custom sets, custom gear with Lego minifig sets and many others. In other words, anyone can practically start an entire Halo community with new LEGO-compatible parts or with his old LEGO collection.
Mark Schafferman loves to write about toys for kids. Halo Lego sets are toys for young and old and designed on the Halo story. Another Lego science fiction set that is popular now is the Lego Hero Factory sets, these are the predecessors of the Bionicle series from Lego.

Perhaps he sat with one of his son's Lego blocks in hand, tossing it absently mindedly as he pondered his frustration with his son's inability to learn Braille.

At age 14, mastery still eluded his son despite the teachers' best efforts and individual instruction. In fact, almost everyone had given up on the son learning Braille. Though multiply impaired (including blindness), Kevin Murphy just could not bring himself to give up on the intelligence he believed lurked in his son's mind.

Maybe he stopped tossing it long enough to stare at the small building brick he held in his hand. Then he noticed it--that little brick had 6 circular pegs! [And] their configuration was the same as the Braille cell--three vertical on the left; three vertical on the right!! Since his son thoroughly enjoyed his Lego set, Kevin decided he'd risk it--turn them into Braille letters.

After he'd destroyed his son's Lego set, he enthusiastically called, "Hey, son, come look what I've done with your Lego set!" His son came excitedly to discover his dad had placed some of the Braille letters he'd made on the base that came with the set. Little by little his son actually did learn Grade 1 Braille.

Fourteen years passed before Kevin could afford to make [Tack-Tiles], trademark name, available commercially in 1995. Now they are available in English, French, Spanish, Italian and German literary code as well as Nemeth (for math), music, and computer Braille code--[yes there are that many different codes the Braille student must learn--each with their own rules].

An added benefit for students who are blind and study in an inclusive setting, Tack-Tiles have print letters corresponding to the Braille configuration on the tile. This enables sighted and blind students to interact. A good many sighted students are curious about Braille and will at least learn the alphabet.

Printed Tack-Tiles also enable the classroom teacher to teach the blind student whatever she is teaching to her sighted students.

I used Tact-Tiles to teach addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (especially long division) to my blind students.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Lego games are mostly movies based and the reason for this phenomenon is the immense love of these movies by children. These games are not only adored by children but are also a good time pass for adults. Lego launched Indiana Jones in 2008 with the intention to provide quality entertainment and creativity. creativity. Read More

It has been an inclination of the Lego Company to convert famous and popular movie series into toys for kids. Success of toy sets of successful movies is almost guaranteed. The love of children for some characters or movies forces Lego developers to convert them into brick sets and mini-figures for their happiness and pleasure. Following this trend, the company launched the Indiana Jones toy sets. Read More